Gary Paffett
Gary Paffett is a British racing driver and former DTM champion, having taken the 2005 crown.'Gary Paffett', dtm.com, (DTM, 2015), http://www.dtm.com/en/driver/gary-paffett?language=en-gb, (Accessed 14/05/2015) Paffett competes for Mercedes-Benz and ART Grand Prix in the 2015 DTM Championship, using the #2 Mercedes C63 DTM. Current Season Paffett took a third place, from 23rd on the grid, in the second race of the season opening DTM Festival, after retiring from the first race on Saturday. Background Paffett's career began with two seasons of karting in the mid-1990s, before he stepped into the Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship. Taking that title on his second attempt, he took the full Vauxhall Championship in 1999, before taking the Scholarship Class in British Formula 3 in 2000. He followed that victory with two seasons in the German Formula 3 Championship, taking the title on his second attempt. DTM History Paffett was drafted into the Mercedes-Benz DTM programme after the start of the 2003, replacing Patrick Huisman at Team Rosberg at the Nürburgring.'Gary Paffett', wikipedia.org, (Wikipedia, 06/05/2015), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Paffett, (Accessed 14/05/2015) It took until the second meeting at the Nürburgring that season for Paffett to score a point, ending the season with four points. Three wins in the 2004 campaign, combined with a victory at the non-championship round in Shanghai, took Paffett to second in the championship. His three wins came at Hockenheim, the Norisring and the Nürburgring. Master and McLaren Victories at the Lausitzring, Oschersleben, Norisring, Zandvoort and Istanbul saw Paffett take the 2005 DTM Championship. His greatest achievement earned him a test driver role at the McLaren Formula One team for 2006, with the Brit leaving the DTM to fulfill his F1 ambitions. After a full years testing, however, restrictions in F1 meant that tests from 2007 onwards, would be increasingly limited, allowing Paffett to focus on the DTM (and F1 testing) once again in 2007. It took just two races for Paffett to rediscover his title winning pace, with victory at Oschersleben. However, it was his only victory that year with Persson Motorsport and a year old Mercedes C-Class, which rather set the tone for 2008. Without a win in 2008, Paffett was moved to the HWA team for 2009, taking on the role as Mercedes' lead driver. Mercedes' leading light Paffett's 2009 campaign saw him fall just four points short of Timo Scheider's total, having won four races. Victories at the Lausitzring, Zandvoort, Dijon and Hockenheim were followed by a similarly successful 2010 campaign. Hockenheim, Zandvoort and Shanghai victories went to Paffett that season, before a barren 2011 season. Runner-up in 2012 saw Paffett take victories at Hockenheim and at his home race at Brands Hatch. Yet, with Paffett unable to stand on the top step of the podium again that season saw him fall short of former teammate Bruno Spengler's championship winning total. 2013 saw yet another victory for Paffett at the Lausitzring, although it was to be his last for at least two years. Paffett took over the development of the Mercedes C63 DTM during 2014, a fact that seriously harmed his points tally for the season. His work paid off, however, with Paffett returning to the podium at the first round of the 2015 season. Full DTM Record Paffett's full results from his }} starts in the DTM are outlined in a series of tables below. DTM Entries The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for Paffett during his DTM career: Career Results Below is a table showing 's full DTM record. |- | | | | | | | | | |pts = 4 |pos = 11th}} | | | | | | | | | | |pts = 57 |pos = 2nd}} | | | | | | | | | | |pts = 84 |pos = 1st}} | | | | | | | | | |pts = 20.5 |pos = 9th}} | | | | | | | | | | |pts = 13 |pos = 9th}} | | | | | | | | | |pts = 59 |pos = 2nd}} | | | | | | | | | | |pts = 67 |pos = 2nd}} | | | | | | | | | | |pts = 25 |pos = 7th}} | | | | | | | | | | |pts = 145 |pos = 2nd}} | | | | | | | | | |pts = 69 |pos = 6th}} | | | | | | | | | |pts = 5 |pos = 22nd}} |- |} References Videos and Images: * Mathieu Felten, 'Gary Paffett', wikipedia.org, (Wikipedia, 14/07/2006), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gary_Paffett#/media/File:Garypaffett.jpg, (Accessed 17/05/2015) References: Category:Drivers Category:Current Drivers Category:British Drivers Category:ART Grand Prix